This device secures a strip, e.g. a flat cable, on a mounting surface. The strip clamp has a top plate that overlaps and locks onto a base plate.
One such prior-art device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,352. That device has a base plate and an overlapping top plate for pressing the strip onto the base plate. The base plate and top plate are molded as a single piece connected by a hinge. Several narrow ribs transversely cross the base plate. Resilient flaps extend downward from both sides of the top plate toward with the base plate to hold the cable in place. The device may be mounted using fasteners or adhesives.
Unfortunately, that device presents a Catch-22. To secure the flat cable in place, the flaps must be very stiff; but the downward pressure of stiff flaps causes the cable to exert upward pressure against the clamp that tends to separate the clamp from its mounting, especially when it is mounted with adhesives. Making the flaps more supple defeats the purpose of the clamp since the cable could then slip more easily.